


Koi No Yokan

by yunbins



Category: iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-03
Updated: 2018-04-03
Packaged: 2019-04-17 15:21:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14191875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yunbins/pseuds/yunbins
Summary: Koi No Yokan is a Japanese phrase which conveys a sudden knowledge of meeting someone and immediately knowing that the two of you are destined for each other.





	Koi No Yokan

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta-ed so there might be errors. No smut or angst just pure humor and love. We all love a Soulmate!AU, how much more if it is YunBin. Do we all agree on this?

**TIME: 3:05 PM Korean Standard Time**

**LOCATION: Incheon International Airport**

 

"I'm sorry sir! The boarding time for the flight number LAX 10-18 is already closed."

Yunhyeong is still trying to gather his thoughts from what he heard. He was certain that his mother would strangle him if she was with him right now.

"I am suggesting that you'll have to get another flight." says the girl.

And so, Yunhyeong was forced to book another flight.

Yunhyeong is used to being late, but he didn’t expect that being late for five minutes would delay his flight to Los Angeles. Right now, he is stuck in the airport for another four hours and he clearly knows that his mother will be so mad when she knows about this. Despite the consequences, Yunhyeong thought that this was a blessing in disguise. And now he is considering of ditching the next one. He doesn’t really want to go to Los Angeles. He already knows that it will be full of drama and the whole thing will be a mess. He is clearly not in the mood to socialize with other people. Smiling on someone he barely knew, his mom’s fiancée. Yunhyeong felt that his phone is vibrating, he took it from his pocket and saw the caller ID.

“Hello?” Yunhyeong answered.

“Son, where are you? Are you already on the plane?”

“No mom. I’m still in Kor –“ his mother cut his sentence off before he could even finish.

“What do you mean you’re still in Korea? The plane will leave in a few minutes, Kim Hanbin?!” And there goes the full name, he knows that this is bad.

He sighed

“Look, mom, please hear me out.” Yunhyeong protested.

“Ok. This better be good, young lad.”

“I was late for about five minutes, but I already book the next flight, it will be around 7 this evening,” I explained.

“You will have no time to go to the hotel when you leave at 7, just proceed to the venue that I emailed you.”

“Okay, mom. I’ll be there.” I answered.

“And Jungwoo is very excited to see. You take care, I love you!” And before he could answer her mother already canceled the call.

He sighed again.

Yunhyeong was looking around, and spotted a hot guy but didn’t really put much attention on him. He doesn’t like crowded places. He is one of those people that doesn’t really like socializing. And the airport is one of those places that he hates. It is noisy and full of strangers.

Yunhyeong sat in one of the benches and plugged in his earphones while hugging his backpack. He closed his eyes.

He doesn’t really understand why his mother is marrying another man. As far as Yunhyeong could remember, they were perfectly fine just three years ago. They were still very happy, like how complete family should look like or that’s what he thought. However, things changed after she left to work abroad. And a year after, her mom already finds another person that she wants to marry – a man that he didn’t met, yet and a man that he really didn’t want to meet at all. He doesn’t really want to have another dad, and he knows how hard it is for his father. And he suddenly remembered their conversation last night.

While his father was reading a book, Yunhyeong hugged him.

“Yunhyeong-ah! Are you already packed up?

He shrugged and sat beside him.

“Look, Dad, I really don’t want to go to LA right now,” Yunhyeong told his father.

“What’s the problem? Your mother will be displeased if you would not go there. And besides, it’s been 2 years that you haven’t seen each other.”

“But – ah! Nevermind.”

He laughs.

“Is it about Jungwoo?”

He nodded.

“He’s a nice guy and besides your mother loves him.” His voice slightly changes.

Yunhyeong felt sad for his dad, He is aware that he still loves his mother. And he knows he is in pain right now and so does Yunhyeong. How could his mother be so insensitive?

He doesn’t want to ruin the night, so Yunhyeong stood up and glance at his dad.

 “I’m going to sleep. I don’t want to look like a zombie in the pictures. It would be very displeasing to the eyes and as you know photographs last for a lifetime.” He joked.

“Okay, son! Have a good sleep.”

**TIME: 4:50 pm Korean Standard Time**

**12:50 am Los Angeles Standard Time (the day before)**

**LOCATION: Incheon International Airport**

 

The airport is one of the places that Yunhyeong doesn’t want to go. It is not the best place for claustrophobic people.

He was exactly thinking that being few minutes late in his flight must be fate. These were one of the things that he was thinking few weeks before his flight. Something that would delay or prevent him from traveling, he was thinking of impossible things like air traffic or some contagious disease outbreak. He sounded weird and desperate but he is serious about it.

Yunhyeong is keenly aware that the ceiling was so close and the press of the walls, the surging presence of the crowd around him, and reminded himself to breathe and checked his lungs for oxygen.

He was lucky to spot an empty sit, he hurriedly to that direction rolling his suitcase behind him. He is being careful, he doesn’t want to ruin the tuxedo that he would be wearing in the wedding, and it won’t be very pleasing if he’ll look like a rug in a photograph that would last a lifetime.

An announcement comes over the loudspeaker about a person missing in the plane. Yunhyeong was just thinking about ditching his own flight. But as if he could read his mind, the guy in front him, giving glances and checking if he was still there.

Yunhyeong makes himself comfortable at the empty seat. He’s beside an old man who is reading a newspaper. He places his backpack without even realizing that he hasn’t completely closed the zipper that made his things shove out of his bag. He hurriedly grabs his handphone first, then some magazine but when he goes to pick up the blue heavy book that his mother gave him, the guy across the aisle reaches it first.

He glances briefly at the book cover before handling it, and Yunhyeong saw a flicker in his eyes because of recognition. Yunhyeong smiles as an act of gratitude.

He doesn’t want to start a conversation no matter how good looking the man is, not at the moment when he can feel butterflies in his stomach upon thinking that a few hours from now he’ll be flying 30 feet above the ground in a place that barely has space for moving and breathing.

He was glancing at the old man beside him and wishing that he wouldn’t sit with him on the plane. Fourteen hours is too long and he is pretty sure that the old man will be sleeping. That’s the thing about flying: You will be talking to someone that you don’t know, share your weirdest secrets together and never meet again.

Suddenly, Yunhyeong feels that he needs to use the bathroom but it would be very inconvenient to drag his suitcase, so he approaches the old woman beside him.

“Excuse me,” Yunhyeong says in a polite manner.

The old woman glanced at him.

“Can you watch my suitcase for a while?” Yunhyeong asks her in a soft voice.

He can see disagreement in the old woman’s face, “NO.”, answers the old woman.

“I can watch it for you.”

The guy across the aisle suddenly offered. He looked at him with a half-smile and dragged his suitcase near where the guy is sitting.

“Thank you. I’ll be back in a while.”

The guy smiled. “Sure. Just take your time.”

 Yunhyeong thought that his smile was pretty and his eyes are very attractive. His brown messy hair fits his fair complexion. He was wearing a sweet smile.

He thinks it’s gross! Even though he already admitted that he is not straight, but having a crush on a stranger seems a little different.

He makes his way back to the guy, which is now holding the handle of his suitcase, which really looks like he is assuring that it will not get lost or get dragged by strangers.

“Thank you,” Yunhyeong told the guy. The guy just nodded and gave him a cocky smile.

Yunhyeong drags his suitcase when suddenly the wheel of his suitcase broke. You’ve got to be kidding me, he told himself as he reaches for the broken part when suddenly a familiar guy lifts his suitcase.

“What are you doing?” Yunhyeong asked.

“I think you could use some help.” the guy answered.

Yunhyeong slightly nods as he looks at the guy which he realizes that is slightly taller than him. He continued walking and the guy was following him behind.

“I didn’t even ask where you’re going.” The guy said while following him.

“Los Angeles.”, he says and the guy laughed.

Yunhyeong looks at him with curiosity.

“No. I meant now.”

“Oh”, rubbing his forehead. Yunhyeong answered, “Honestly, I don’t know. To grab some dinner, maybe? I just don’t want to sit there forever.”

“Okay.”, the guy answered while looking at him and smiles.

“Where to, then?”, asked the guy.

After what seems like forever, they ended up in a stall that sells sandwiches. They settled on an empty table.

“This is a good idea.”, the guy says. “The plane’s food will be garbage.”

“Where are you headed?” Yunhyeong asks as they join the line.

“Los Angeles, as well.”

“Really? What seat?”

He reaches into his back pocket of his shorts and took his ticket.

“Twelve C.”

“I’m Twelve A.”, he tells the guy, and the guy smiles.

“Just missed one seat.”

“You’re going over to a wedding too?” Yunhyeong assumes.

The guy hesitates, then jerks his chin up for a half nod.

“So am I.”, Yunhyeong says. “Wouldn’t it be weird if it was the same one?” he added.

 

**TIME: 6:32 pm Korean Standard Time**

**2:32 am Los Angeles Standard Time (The same day)**

 

Despite having ordered a burger without ketchup, Yunhyeong can still see the red goo oozing unto the bun as he carries his food to their table and his stomach feels uncomfortable.

Inside his mind, he’s debating whether to suffer through eating it or to risk looking like a stupid guy scrapping some ketchup in his burger. At the end, he goes for looking stupid while ignoring the guy’s curious gaze as she dismantles his dinner like a biology experiment and starts to scrape the ketchup from the bun of his burger.

“That’s some nice work there,” the guy says around a mouthful of spaghetti, and Yunhyeong nods.

“I have a fear of ketchup, so I’ve actually gotten good as time goes by.”

“You have a fear of ketchup?”

He nods again.

“It is in the top three or four things that I’m afraid of,” Yunhyeong says.

“Can you tell me what are the others?”, he asks with a grin. “What could possibly be worse than ketchup?”

“Doctors,” he offers. “Cats. Stoves.”

“Stoves? So I’ll assume that you’re not fond of cooking.”

“And small spaces,” he says in a more soft voice.

The guy tilts his head to one side.

“So… What do you do on the plane?”

Yunhyeong shrugs.

“Grit my teeth. Close my eyes. Hold my hands together and hope for the best.”

“Not a bad tactic,” the guy says with a laugh. “Does it work?”

Yunhyeong doesn’t answer.

“Well,” says the guy, putting his elbows on the table. “Claustrophobia is nothing compared to ketchup-phobia. Look how well you are conquering it,” the guy nods at the plastic knife in Yunhyeong’s hand.

Yunhyeong smiles greatly at him.

Yunhyeong tries to concentrate on his dinner, but he can’t help sneaking glances at the guy every now and then, each he feels some butterflies in his stomach unrelated to the traces of ketchup still left in his burger.

Yunhyeong had few relationships before. He cried when they broke up with him and now he thinks that it was the most obvious mistake that he has ever done.

How could he like someone else when there was someone like this guy in the world, someone tall and thin, with messy hair and sparkling innocent eyes and a speck of spaghetti sauce on his chin, it is like his small imperfection make his a whole picture work somehow. Is it possible when all your life you thought that you don’t have a type until suddenly you felt you do?

Yunhyeong leans across the table and asks his name.

“Right,” he says, blinking at him. “I guess that part naturally comes first. I’m Hanbin. And you?”

“Yunhyeong.”

“Yunhyeong,” Hanbin repeats with a nod. “That’s beautiful.”

He clearly knows that he is only talking about the name but somehow Yunhyeong can still feel uncomfortably flattered.

“Ever been to Los Angeles before?”

“Never,” Yunhyeong says but a bit too forcefully.

He laughs. “It’s not that bad.”

“Do you live there?”

“I grew up there.”

“So where do you live now.”

“Yongin, I guess,” he says. “I go to Seoul University.”

Yunhyeong’s unable to hide his surprise. “You do?”

“What, I don’t look like a proper university student to you?”

“No, it’s just so close.”

“To what?”

“Nothing.”

Yunhyeong shakes his head quickly, completely embarrassed now, but he’s laughing.

“I’m only joking,” Hanbin says. “I just finished up my first year there.”

“So how come you’re not home for the summer?”

“I like it over here,” Hanbin says with a shrug. “Plus I won a summer research grant, so I’m sort of required to be here.”

“What kind of research?”

“I’m studying the fermentation process of ketchup and why people hate it.”

Now, sitting in the airport café, Yunhyeong’s thumb lingers over the button on her phone while Hanbin was outside of the café talking to someone. He takes a deep breath before pressing it, his heart pounding in the quiet spaces between rings. Yunhyeong isn’t superstitious by nature, but he thoughtlessly invoked the possibility of a plane crash. He thinks about the plane that he was supposed to take, already across the ocean by now. He is regretting and somehow hoping that he didn’t mess up with the silent works of chances and timing.

He lets out a sigh of relief upon hearing his dad’s voice mail. As he leaves a short message about missing his original flight schedule, he see’s Hanbin approaching again. But this time he recognized that something is wrong with the latter’s face, it shows the same sharp sting of worry that he can feel in himself right now, but the other guy spots him then the expression and wary shifts. Hanbin is back again, looking relaxed and almost cheerful, a soft smile is reflecting in his innocent-eyes.

Yunhyeong has stopped in the middle of his message, and Hanbin points to his phone as he grabs his bag, he lifts his finger pointing in the direction of the gate. Before Yunhyeong could answer, Hanbin had already left, so he finishes the message hurriedly.

He heads back to the gate, and scan the area for Hanbin’s blue shirt, but he’s nowhere to found. Rather than waiting, he scans the perimeter, seeks around the shops, newspaper stands, wandering the terminal until it’s finally time to board. As he falls in the line, Yunhyeong realizes he’s almost too tired to be anxious at this point. There’s so much more ahead of him to worry about: the closeness of the cabin, the panicky feeling that with no way out. When it’s his turn to hand over his ticket, the flight stewardess smile.

“Scared of flying?”

He smiles humbly.

“Scared of landing,” he says, and then steps onto the plane anyway.

By the time Hanbin appears at the top of the aisle, Yunhyeong is already sitting beside the window with his seatbelt fastened and his belongings placed in the overhead bin. He spent the past 10 minutes pretending he wasn’t interested in his arrival, counting anything he can see out the window. But really, he is just waiting for him, and when he finally arrives at their row he finds himself blushing for no good reason.

“Lost you in there,” Hanbin says, and he manages a nod, happy to be found again.

Hanbin places his bag above before sitting into the middle seat beside him, awkwardly arranging his too-long legs in front of him. Yunhyeong glances at him, his heart is beating in an abnormal pace, in the casual way he’s positioned himself close to him.

“I’ll just stay for a minute until someone else comes.” He says while leaning his back.

Hanbin pulls some few things from his pocket, he finds a fur-covered piece of wrapped candy, he offers him first, then pops it into his mouth.

“How old is that candy?” he asks as he wrinkled his nose.

“Ancient. I’m quite sure that I took it out of a sweet bowl the last time I was home.”

“Let me guess,” Yunhyeong says. “It was part of a study on the effects of sugar in a long period of time.”

Hanbin grins. “Sort of like that.”

“What are you really studying?”

“It’s a top secret,” Hanbin tells him, his face was utterly serious.

“And you look kind, so I don’t think I’ll have to kill you.”

“Wow! Thanks,” Yunhyeong says. “Can you at least tell me what your major? Or is that classified also?”

“Probably Psychology,” he answers. “Though, I’m still figuring it out.”

“Ah, so that explains all the mind games.”

Hanbin laughs. “You say mind games, I say research.”

“I guess I better be careful with my words, then, If I’m being studied.”

“You’re right,” he says. “I’m keeping an eye on you.” Motioning his two fingers from his eyes to the latter’s eyes.

“And?”

Hanbin gave him a cocky smile. “Too early to tell.”

Behind him, an elderly woman pauses at their row, looking down at her ticket. She's wearing a pink dress and she has white hair you can see right through her scalp. Her hand trembles a bit as she points at the number of them.

"I think you are in my seat," she says, and beside Yunhyeong, Hanbin stands up so fast he hits his head on the air-conditioning panel.

"Sorry", he utters as he attempts to move out of the way.

"I was just there for a moment."

The elder looked at him closely, then her stare slides over to Yunhyeong, and they can almost see the idea of it dawning on her.

"Oh!" she utters, bringing her hands together with a low clap.

"I didn't realize that you were together."

She puts down her purse on the end seat. "You two stay put. I'll be fine here."

"So," the elder asks while getting a pair of earplugs in her purse, "how did you two meet?"

They exchange a quick glance.

"Believe it or not, it was in an airport." Hanbin answers.

"Wonderful! And how did it happen?"

"Well," Hanbin begins, as he arranged himself by sitting up a bit taller, "I was being quite fearless, actually, and offered to help him with his suitcase. Since I find it a little bit odd, that this little fella here is carrying such heavy thing. And then we started talking, and one thing led to another..."

Yunhyeong grins. "And he's been carrying my suitcase since then."

"It's what any manly man would do," Hanbin says with exaggerated actions. "Especially the really fearless ones."

The old woman seems pleased. "And both of you are here."

Hanbin smiles. "Here we are."

Yunhyeong's surprised by the force of the wish that wells up inside of him just then: The wish that all of it was true, that it was not just a mere makeup story, that it was their story.

Yunhyeong was in deep thoughts about what he and Hanbin just made up – a fake love story. Hanbin was looking at him with bright and shining eyes; he manages to smile back at him while listening to the old woman, who just opened a story about how she and her husband met.

This ain’t a fairytale, Yunhyeong. Things don’t happen just like that, he mentally utters. Not really. Not to him.

“…and our youngest is twenty-seven,” the old woman is saying to Hanbin. While listening to the old woman, Yunhyeong’s feeling some goosebumps around his neck. He manages to bring one of his hands to soothe the Jell-O feeling.

“And in October it will be the fifty-seven years together.”

Hanbin was amazed. “WOW”, he says. That’s amazing.

“I wouldn’t call it amazing”, she says. “fifty-seven years can seem like about fifty-seven seconds when you find the right person and you are on the other side of it.”

The old woman swallowed the sleeping pill she’s been holding since she sat on the plane.

“Just like when you’re young and in love, a fourteen-hour plane ride can seem like a lifetime.”

“Enjoy the flight.” The old woman says while stuffing a yellow earplug into her ears.

“You too,” Yunhyeong says, but the woman’s head has fallen to one side, and just like that, she begins to snore.

Yunhyeong grabs the laminated safety instructions from the seat pocket in front of her and frowns. Beside him, Hanbin suppresses a laugh, and she looks up again.

“What?”

“I’ve never seen anyone actually read one of those things before.”

“Well,” he says. “Then you’re very lucky to be sitting next to me.”

“Just in general?”

Yunhyeong smiles.  “Well, just in case of an emergency.”

“Oh, right,” Hanbin says. “I really feel very safe, now. In case I’ll be unconscious during some sort of emergency landing, I feel ecstatic to see all five-foot-nothing of you carry me out of here.”

Yunhyeong’s face shows some frightened. “Don’t even joke about it.”

“Sorry.”

He says, closing the gap between them while Hanbin puts his hand on Yunhyeong’s knee, as an act of unconscious that he doesn’t seem to realize what he’s done until Yunhyeong looks down in surprise at his palm. He draws back rapidly, looking a bit bewildered himself, he shakes his head.

“The flight will be fine. I didn’t mean it.”

“It’s okay,” he says quietly. “I’m not usually quite so superstitious.”

“Fifty-seven years, that’s impressive,” Hanbin says.

“I’m not sure if I even believe in marriage,” Yunhyeong says.

“You’re on your way to a wedding, right?”

He nods. “But that’s what I mean.”

Hanbin looks at him blankly.

“It shouldn’t be this big commotion, letting people travel halfway across the globe just to witness your love. If you want to share a lifetime with each other, then fine.” Putting both of his hands up. “But that’s between the two of you, and that should be enough. Why create a big show? For what, to say in everyone’s faces while witnessing it?”

Hanbin runs a hand along his jaws, clearly doesn’t know what to say.

“It sounds like it’s the wedding that you’re not a fan of.” Hanbin says with a ‘matter-of-fact-face’. “Not the marriage.”

“I’m not a fan of such either.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I think they’re kind of nice.”

“They’re not.” Yunhyeong insists. “They are all for a show. You don’t need to prove anything if it means nothing. It’s simpler that way. If it means something, then there should be a something.”

“I think it does,” Hanbin says. “It’s a vow. It’s a promise.”

“I guess so.” He says with a sigh. “But ironically, promises are made to be broken and not all people are good at keeping promises.”

He looks towards the old woman who is currently mumbling some words while comfortable sleeping.

“Not majority of people makes it to fifty-seven years, and if you do, it doesn’t matter that you once stood in front of all those people exchanging your vows and promises. The most important part is that you had someone who’ll stand beside you and will hold your hand all the time. Especially when things are starting to get fucked up.”

“So that’s it?” Hanbin says with a stunned look plastered on his face. “No marriage or wedding. Just someone who’ll be there when things don’t fall into place?”

Yunhyeong nods. “That’s it.”

Hanbin shakes his head in disbelief.

“Whose wedding are you attending? An ex-girlfriend of yours?”

“Correction. It’s ex-‘BOYFRIEND’.”

“Oh. Let me rephrase that, ‘an ex-boyfriend of yours?” Hanbin says with a grin that shows interest.

Yunhyeong laughs.

“What?”

“My ex-boyfriend is too busy playing video games inside his room and the rest of his time is for playing baseball. It would be a big joke if he’s the groom.”

“I thought you’re too young to be ridiculed.”

“I’m twenty-three,” he says with annoyance and he holds up his hands in surrender.

**Author's Note:**

> Please drop by some comments. Will update the story on Sunday.


End file.
